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Contrary to the statistician's slogan, in the quantum world, certain kinds of correlations do imply causation. A collaboration of physicists from the University of Waterloo and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics have shown that in quantum mechanics, certain kinds of observations will let you distinguish whether there is a common cause or a cause-effect relation between two variables. The same is not true in classical physics.

University of Waterloo Professor Brian McNamara along with two Canadian astronomers will be part of the science working group directing ASTRO-H, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA’s) newest flagship x-ray astronomy observatory.